Activations of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and thalamus during agentic self-evaluation are negatively associated with trait self-esteem.

Activations of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and thalamus during agentic self-evaluation are negatively associated with trait self-esteem.
Brain Res. 2018 May 16;:
Authors: Jiang K, Wu S, Shi Z, Liu M, Peng M, Shen Y, Yang J
Abstract
Individual self-esteem is dominated more by agency than by communion. However, prior research has mainly focused on one's agentic/communal self-evaluation, while little is known about how one endorses others' agentic/communal evaluation of the self. The present study investigated the associations between trait self-esteem and fundamental dimensions of social cognition, i.e. agency vs. communion, during both self-evaluation and endorsement of others' evaluation of oneself. We also investigated the neural mechanisms underlying the relationship between trait self-esteem and agentic self-evaluation. Behavioral results revealed that self-esteem was positively correlated with the agentic ratings from self-evaluation and endorsement of others' evaluation of the self, and that the agentic self-evaluation was a significant full mediator between self-esteem and endorsement of others' agentic evaluation. Whole-brain regression analysis revealed that self-esteem was negatively correlated with right dorsolateral prefrontal and bilateral thalamic response to agentic self-evaluation. A possible interpretation is that low self-esteem people both hold a more self-critical attitude about the self and have less certai...

Source: Brain Research - May 16, 2018 Category: Neurology Authors: Jiang K, Wu S, Shi Z, Liu M, Peng M, Shen Y, Yang J Tags: Brain Res Source Type: research